A trip to the desert has left the Colorado Rockies (17-10, 10-4 away) thirsty for victory, as they lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night, 4-3. Justin Upton's home run to right field to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning broke the 3-3 tie. Felipe Paulino gave up the homer and took the loss.
Both of the night's starters, Jorge De La Rosa and Joe Saunders, went six innings and allowed three runs each, but De La Rosa also had six strikeouts. The Rockies struck first when Ryan Spilborghs had sacrifice fly in the second inning, but it was a short-lived lead. In the third inning, De La Rosa allowed a leadoff, no-doubt home run to Henry Blanco. A single and two walks later, De La Rosa saw a Xavier Nady ball grounded up the middle to score two runs for a 3-1 D'Backs lead.
Carlos Gonzalez countered with his second home run of the game when he knocked it out of the park in the fourth inning. Then in the fifth, Dexter Fowler walked and then scored on a triple by Jonathan Herrera. Then on the next play, Herrera was thrown out at home plate on a grounder to third base.
The Rockies had a chance in the top of the eighth when Todd Helton reached third on a single and two wild pitches, but a fielder's choice on a Jose Lopez grounder saw Helton out at the plate.
In his return to the majors, Ian Stewart entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the seventh and struck out looking.
This series continues on Wednesday night at 7:40 p.m. MT on ROOT Sports. Jhoulys Chacin and Barry Enright duel.